Personalized Family Gifts

Choosing gifts for memebers of your family is always daunting to the point that some people toss a sprinkling of gift cards and call it a day, while others start to dread days like Christmas that are supposed to be happy. Let's look at what makes buying personalized and meaningful gifts for your family difficult and what we can do to always come out of the holidays like a champ. At the end of this article I'll breakdown each family member one by one so we can profile them in more detail. Why is buying for family so hard? Buying for family is hard for two reasons:

Firstly you are expected to know them better than anyone. You've known your family for either all of your life or all of their life, both if your twins! That seems to leave you little excuse to not know them better than their friends or partners, and yet often that isn't the case. Sometimes it seems like the cards are stacked against you. What's worse, even though you know about your family members' hobbies, you usually have no interest in them. We generally pick friends and partners with similar interests, but family is just a roll of the dice. So even though you know your brother spends every weekend fishing, once you get to the fishing store and see the thousands of products you know nothing about, you realize that you don't know what type of fishing he does, what kind of rod and reel he has, and which lines, jigs sinkers, floaters, bait, leaders and lines he already has, let alone which ones he uses. Fast Forward two frustrating weeks and you are buying a gift card for $20 more than you'd originally budgeted out of guilt for buying a gift card.

The second reason buying for family is hard, is that it doesn't stop. Even if you dig into the deepest corners of your soul and dump everything you have into this year's christmas gifts, that's only bought you 365 days, which of course are scattered with birthdays, before you need to do the whole thing again. You can't deal a winning hand game after game no matter how good your poker face. So suppose you nail the gift giving a couple years in a row, while getting gift cards and socks back to show for it. Eventually you lose steam and just take the course of least resistance.

Let's start looking at some strategies for getting personalized gifts that show we know our family as we should, without exhausting and demotivating ourselves in the process.

The first trick to success: Ask mom! I know this sounds like a complete cop-out, but look at it this way. Number one, you don't want to get the same gift as someone else, really doesn't it make sense to check? Number two, mom usually knows everyone in the family the best, she's likely been paying more attention than you about what everyone wants and has already. Number Three, you will often get an opportunity to collaberate. If you find out mom is buying you brother a new fishing rod and reel, you can buy a tackle box and assortment of hooks and bait to go with it. This works for everyone, your brother will have everything he needs to start fishing, your gift adds value to mom's gift and you get the advice you need to make a great personal choice. Your mom will also likely have a good idea of everyone's sizes and color preferences when it comes to buying clothes.

The second trick: Ask some questions to your family member. While it's often considered socially unacceptable to ask too pointed questions to a partner or friend, you can often get away with a lot more when it comes to family, as they are in the same boat as you, and a little tit for tat helps you both. You know your family and if you think they'd respond poorly to this, then use their discretion, but you can fish for direction while still showing how well you know them, for example, "Do any of these recent books by [author they like] interest you?". You might get a response like, "the ones by that author didn't look great, but these books seemed pretty good". Now you've given them a gift they acctually want rather than something they feel obligated to read now. Obviously a quesiton like "What do you want for your birthday" just looks lazy and should be avoided. Another option that works for everyone, is take them around to different stores and watch carefully what they show interest in. If you spend an hour or two walking around with someone looking at things odds are good they will even just say "I like this", or "I want to get this someday". Work smart, not hard, and if you see something you like, then speak up as well, no one loses when everyone wins.

If none of these work, or aren't possible, then you'll need to take a guess, but you will find it needn't be difficult or daunting. Remember gifts for family members should be fun or functional, and bonus points for both. A great way to get a personalized gift is to add a message or engraving to something you know they will like. If you decided to pick out something based on their hobbies or interests/talents, imagine it like throwing darts, the more specific the spot you aim for the easier it is to miss. If you know they like Sci-fi books, chose one you liked yourself, or maybe a collector's or signed edition of one of their favorites, rather than trying to guess on a book neither of you have read. If they like playing guitar, get a strap if they don't have one, or a book of chords and lyrics for a band they like, rather than something more specific in purpose.

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Personalized Gifts for Mom

Buying for your parents is much harder than buying for your siblings. At least it seems like your siblings have intrests and hobbies, while sometimes it seems your parents just work and stay at home, did they forget how to have fun? Maybe a little bit, and it's all your fault! Just kidding, of course. While mom loves all the cheap bottles of perfume, scarves, gloves and $20 gift cards for Amazon you got her, we can do better! Let's dive in, and see how to pick out the perfect gift for mom.

Give her a chance to unwind, relax and decompress. One of the best gifts you can give your mom is a day off from being mom, check out local spas to find a perfect package, and be sure to buy the package itself, not a gift card for a certain number of dollars. Some great options could be a spa package including a massage. A manicure, pedicure, or both. A foot massage or cleanse. Or even something less mainstream like aromatherapy, or acupuncture if she would be interested.

Giving your mom the gift of a day to herself doesn't need to be a relaxing day at the spa though, there are tons of options of things your mom is sure to love, some other great experiences could include a wine tasting, a fortune telling, a workshop in something that interests her like painting, writing, yoga, pottery or horticulture. Maybe a ticket to a dinner theater would be an excelent gift, as would tickets to a concert, a river, lake or bay cruise. You can look at local events in your area for interesting events, there are usually plenty, something like a hypnosis show, dueling pianos, or tickets to a comedy preformance could all be a great choice. Classes could also be a hit, you can learn almost anything online these days and many classes are less than $20, there are also bound to be many adult learning classes in your area, toastmasters, painting, dancing or pottery all might be interesting choices.

You can also give your mother a traditional gift with a personalized twist. You can browse for creative customizable gifts on sites like etsy or amazon. Getting your mom something for the house or something for her to wear with a personalized messages hits two birds with one stone, and she's sure to love it. It's important not to give your mother a gift for the house or for her to wear that is cheap or ugly. When you invest in such a gift, make sure to get something of good quality and a good brand name if applicable and also something that matches her personal style. Remember if you give her a gift to wear, she's almost certain to wear it, and if it's something for the house she's certain to put it out, don't be responsible for making her look silly or her house look tacky, if you're not confident you can do this well, then it's best to choose something less obvious, like a scarf, cap or change purse for carry, and coasters, plant pots, key/jewlery dishes, cutting boards, cutlery, cups or dishes, doilies, clocks, etc. in the case of things around the house.

Handmade Gifts for mom, one of the best hand made gifts you can make is something that solves a problem for your mom and is a gift of it self as well. For example many of the knobs on my mother's kitchen cabinets were broken, so I bought a full set of decorate brass knobs and installed them all during the night before christmas. So if you can make something that looks beautiful for the house and also fixes an issue, that's an excellent gift, but not always realistic. Your mom probably likes to wear nice things, though the same may not be true of your dad. Unless you think you can acctually produce a nice looking good quality piece of textile or jewelery, it's likely better to stick to things around the home when it comes to making hand made gifts. Make sure that whatever you do decide on making, you invest some time first into learning how to make it correctly, there are countless videos online that detail how to make just about anything, so familiarize yourself with them first before you get started.

Finding a gift personally for her, if you don't want to take one of the approaches above and want to buy a gift, but one that is clearly tailored to your mom's interest, then you may face more difficulty, but we can still give it a shot. Your mom will probably like different scented soaps, creams, bath bombs, lotions etc as gifts. She's also likely to enjoy premium specialty products like artisan chocolates, coffees, confections, or other gift baskets of the sort. These might all be popular choices, but they aren't horribly personal, they are safer bets. Something like a book or bottle of wine would show her personal taste, but it's also unlikely you will be able to predict it, unless you buy the same type of wine she often buys, then it's not too much of a gift. A signed, or limited edition of a book you know she likes is a better choice. Buying things that match well with other things she likes also shows some thought was put in, for example coasters or saucers to match her favorite tea cups, gloves to match her favorite hat. Some type of DIY kit, like a DIY stencil kit, DIY birdhouse kit, or a DIY cactus garden could all be fun options. Maybe you've seen her express a talent or interest in something like writing, painting, music or gardening, and you can buy gifts to encourge that.

Personalized Gifts for Dad

"Dad is there anything you want for your birthday?"
"Maybe a Henweigh?"
"What's a Henweigh?"
"About three or four pounds, depends on the hen" . . . "Hen ... Weigh"
"Dad, I'm serious"
"Hi Serious, I'm dad"
"... you're getting a tie again"
"Purple, please"
Every year thousands of families are afflicted with self-dadbatouge, but could this whole situation have been avoided? The answer is yes, in this section we will show you how to pick out a perfect customized gift that you dad will acctually love despite his abysmally low expectations.

No one knows what their dad wants for a gift, least of all your dad himself. So how do you get him gift he'll love? Odds are your dad is about as in tune as the pianos in the Titanic, when it comes to current trends.

An easy way to get him a gift he'll love is to use this to your advantage and just introduce him to something the rest of the world already knows about. Get him a year's subscription to Spotify and help him set it up on his phone and computer, get him a go-Pro, ear-buds, Netflix, or even just download a bunch of his favorite movies on a disk or flashdrive, as he probably wants to watch them but doesn't know how. An e-reader or external hard drive could also be a good choice, just be realistic about how well your dad is likely to be able use the item himself. If you get something too complicated for him, such that he constantly needs help, of if you get something to make social media more accessable for him, then you are responsible for the results.

Get your dad something he'll likely have fun with, even if he's shown no interest in it. Obviously if you know of a specific hobbie or interest your dad has, and you can find a gift related to that, then that's a better bet, if your dad is always fishing, you can find something, or if he likes riding horses, you can pre-buy a 2 hour trail ride, but let's assume there is nothing quite that easy that comes to mind. Well, you can probably give him something right out of left field to play with, such as a soapstone carving kit, an airbrush set, maybe even a hot sauce making kit, minature models to paint, a train set or an origami book, depending on your dad. It may not be a perfect rule, but usually dads will respond positively to a new idea of something fun to keep them busy like this.

Get him tickets to an event or experience, he'd be interested in. You might need to think a bit outside the box here, concert tickets are easy enough if there is anything he might like, but you might need to get into other territories, consider tickets to things like a river boat trip, maybe a sporting event or a special fundraiser. You may find tickets to auto shows, boat shows, exhibitions, or activities like trail rides, fishing boat trips, guitar workshops. You can consider things like lessons, for example in an instrument or language, or even computer stuff like photoshop. There are even beer festivals and many cities have an oktoberfest celebration as well.

Classics with a twist! Getting him a wallet or watch or leather notebook could seem unoriginal, but simply getting it engraved with his name or a custom message sends the gift to another level. There are also companies available that custom print someone's name on achohol bottles or flasks, and one company that sends different craft beers to your house every month, the world's a wonderful place!

The hand-made gift. Designing a handmade gift for your dad can be tricky, it should be functional but probably something that serves a simple purpose is best. Something like plant or flower pots could be good, if he enjoys growing things, and why not add some soil and seeds as well. Coasters, placemats or oven mitts if he likes cooking, or even a handmade wooden spoon, trivet or spatula. If you like knitting or crocheting, you can try a beany, doilies or coasters, or even golf socks. Your dad might even enjoy and original "kit" including materials and tools, so you can make something together, there are many DIY kits of various complexity to chose from online, or you can design one your self. You may find that rather than going to a ceramics workshop to make something for your dad, it would be an even better gift to pay for the two of you to go together. If you do some searching you can found countless classes and workshops in your area that are likely to be a hit. Some things like different cooking classes, pottery, painting, mettelurgy, piano, guitar, songwriting, sour-dough bread making, woodworking, or language learning could all be available depending on where you live.

When it comes to buying gifts for your dad there's no need to stress to much. Many dad's would never update their wardrobe if not for gifts they get throughout the year, Your dad probably doesn't have terribly high expectations.

Personalized Gifts for your Brother or Sister

Trying to find a personalized gift for your brother or sister will of course depend wildly on their age and interests. Really the best way to break this section down is based on age, as I will do below. First though, a couple things to note when it comes to shopping for your sibling. While your mom and dad will love the hand made gift you gave them, just for the effort alone, you're likely to get a lot less sympathy from your brother or sister if you tried to make them something that ?. well you tried really hard!

As a general rule, your brother or sister would probably prefer a gift card where they can choose their own gift over a gift that was all effort and no success, but does that mean we shouldn't even try? Of course not! Here we'll break down some killer strategies to make sure your gift is a hit!

The first thing to do before shopping for you sibling is to ask your mom! As I mentioned above, this is smart for a couple reasons, firstly, your mom has probably just been plainly paying more attention than you have and has a pretty good idea of what kinds of things your brother has been buying lately and what he still wants. Secondly, you can make sure you don't accidentally buy the same thing, and thirdly you can piggy back off your mom's gifts and buy other things to match them. Most things these days are designed with upselling and accessorizing in mind, so it's not usually hard to find something that pairs well with the gifts your mother already bought. If you have other siblings you can also discuss going together with them on a gift. That will let you buy something more expensive and nicer than either of you could otherwise, and as the saying goes, two heads are better than one, certainly true when choosing a gift. Do not however "go in on something" with your parents, even if you give them however much money you were going to spend, it looks lazy at best, and it looks like you didn't do anything and mom just stuck your name on the card, at worst.

Gift for a sibling less than ten years old. At this age your sibling is building fundamental memories they will look back on nostalgically for the rest of their life. That said, they won't appreciate the nuance and personal touch involved in many of the gifts we've mentioned above. To do something really meaningful, this is a great age to get them involved in a hobby you can do together. When I was a child I had a rock tumbler I absolutely loved, find a creative kit of something that a child can have fun with and still see some results in at this age, and something you can do together with them to help build lasting early memories.

Gift for a sibling between eleven and eighteen. The tweens and teens often seem entirely unpredictable, so how to find something they will acctually like? If you're having trouble connecting with your teen sibling, you're not the first one this has happened too. You may want to try and connect, but your sibling may just want space, if that's the case, trying to suggest a middle ground of your interests or butt your way into their life is not advisable. The best thing to do is to try and find a gift that shows support for whatever things they are interested in, and not try and feature yourself too much in the gift. Live to fight another day, and know they will thank you for the space when they are older.

Find a gift for your adult sibling. Especially if your sibling is older than you, they will likely be ready to appreciate a thoughtfull hand made or personallized gift now. You can give them something related to one of their interests or something to encourage one of their talents. You can find a nice functional object like a watch and have it engraved with a personalized message, or you can consider tickets to a concert or event that you know will interest them.

Conclusion

There is no hard and fast rule for selecting a gift for family, and if there was a perfect option they'd surely have got it by now. We hope this article has better helped you navigate this tricky task, but in summary. Hand made gifts are great for adults, and tickets to different events are an easy way to give something original with a personal touch. Even regular items can often be personalized with messages and images. A gift can be personalized later in a more abstract way if it leads to you spending time together. If in doubt, go for something they will find fun!

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